Time-controlled driving mechanism for recording surfaces



Feb. 14, 1928. 1,659,336

w. c. SUTHERLAND TIME CONTROLLED DRIVING MECHANISM FOR RECORDING SURFACES fleets-Sheet l 2a a JQWM Feb. 14, 1928. 1,659,336

.- W. C. SUTHERLAND TIME CONTROLLED DRIVING MECHANISM FOR RECORDING SURFACES Filed Nov. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Feb. 14, 1928.

W. C. SUTHERLAND TIME CONTROLLED DRIVING MECHANISM FOR RECORDING SURFACES Filed Nov. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Wm Zdfde izeh ai M $.1 *7

Feb. 14, 1928.

W. C. SUTHERLAND TIME CONTROLLED DRIVING MECHANISM FOR RECORDING SURFACES Filed Nov.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 fill Patented Feb. 14, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM COOPER S'UTHERLAND, OF KEIGHLEY, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO W'ORK ELETEESLIMITED, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

TIME-CONTROLLED DREVING IvZEECI-IEiNISM FOR RECORDING SURFACES.

Application filed November 3, 1925, serial No.

' This invention relates to time-controlled driving mechanism for recording surfaces such as asurface consisting of a strip of paper or the like which is made to travel at a regular and even pace or through a given distance in a given time, in combination with devices for marking or recording on said paper indications of known character, and my present invention consists in the production of said mechanism of such a character as to effectively control the movement of the surface on which a record is being marked with the greatest precision and by the novel devices hereinafter described.

In order that my said invention may be readily understood I have-hereunto appended sheets of drawings illustrative thereof, to which by figures and letters reference is made in the following description Fig. 1 is a side sectional elevation showing apparatus which embodies my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan of the apparatus shown t Fig. l and other apparatus to the rear of that shown by Fig. 1.

is a sectional elevation taken on line Fig. 2.

Fig. i is a, similar sectional elevation taken on line C. D. of Fig. 2.

F1 is an end elevation of the devices shown by Fig. 2, as seen looking from right to left of said figure.

Fig. (5 is a side elevation showing a casing in section, said casing enclosing apparatus which is operated by the road; wheel of vehicle or by other devices as is her after explained so as to complete a circuit under the desired conditions.

Fig. 7 is a plan of the parts shown by Fig. 6. i I

Figs. 8 and 9 are drawings in detail of a part hereinafter explained.

Fig. is a sectional elevation showingappaatus for operating a marker such as a pen, pencil or the like used in connection with apparatus shown by Figsl to 5.

Fig. ll is a sectional plan of the parts shown by Fig. 10;

I may here observe that l have elected to show the recording surface as being inthe form of a strip of paper although it is evident that I may havea rotary dial carrying a chart upon which the indications may be made or marked since in both sait cz scs my apps fetus for controlling the movements of the recording surfaces are identical.

66,527, and in Great Britain August 14, 1925.

in carrying my invention into effect as is above stated 1 make use of a strip of paper or the like 2 which I unwind from a coil at a regular speed by the employment of gripping rollers 8 and 4: which are situated in appropriate positions relatively to my improved time controlling devices in order that same may be actuated as is hereinafter explained.

The rollers 3 and .t in this case are arranged to withdraw or efi'ect the traveling ofthe strip of paper 2 at a regular and desired speed so that the markings a thereon u ll correspond with the time that the paper has taken to travel from position to position under the control of the mechanism described. The markings showing spaces between the points a and b represent the distance through which the paper has travelled as for example for a period of ti s minutes or such arrangement as will be understood may be for any other given period.

To carry out such process the regular rotations of the rollers 3 and a are obtained from time control-led mechanism which operates said rollers by the gearing wheel 5 ed to the shaft of the roller 3 being roted by the worm 6 which is fixed upon a aft 7 UPuIl which is fixed a ratchet wheel 8, and this ratchet wheel is actuated by a pawl 9 mounted upon the armature 10 of an electromagnet l1 energized from a battery or other constant source of electric supply.

The arn'iature 10 is attracted by the electromagnet 11 in one direction and receives its return motion by the recoil of a spring 12 in the opposite direction.

To control the actions of the armature 10 so that the step by step movements of the ratchet wheel 8 are regulated and carried out at regular intervals, that is to say, to effect theadvancing of one tooth of the wheel 8 in each second of time, I complete and break the electric circuit to the magnet 11 by the devices hereinafter described.

Upon a shaft 13 I mount to revolve loosely a toothed wheel 14 and on the same shaft 13 I mount a spring barrel 15 one end of the spring in which is connected to the shaft 13 while the other end of the spring is connected through the barrel 15 to the wheel 14%. Thus the winding up of the spring within the box 15 will cause the wheel 1% to revolve and transmit motion as is hereinafter described.

which meshes with a Upon the shaft 13 is fixed a ratchet wheel 16 which is actuated by another pawl 17 carried by the armature 10 upon which the pawl 9 is mounted. By this arrangement of devices as the pawl'17 is moved by the spring 12 actuating the armature 10 said pawl 17 will move the toothed wheel 16 through the space of one tooth and the teeth of this wheel are so arranged that they will carry the shaft 13 and therefore the spring within the barrel 15 through such a space as willtransmit suficient motion to the wheel 14 to enable this latter to move the pinion 18 fixed upon a shaft 19 through the space of one half a revolution. Y

'- Upon the shaft 19 is fixed a rotary switch 410 will be attracted twice by the magnet 11 and will be permitted on'both occasions to return by the recoil of the spring 12 and thereby at each half revolution again operate the ratchetwheel 16 one tooth forward as will be understood. 9

On the shaft'19 is also fixed a wheel 22 pinion 23 fixed upon afshaft 24 and on this shaft'24 is fixed another wheel 25 which operates a pinion 26 thus as will be seenby arranging the wheels 22, 23, 25 and 26 to have thedesired num her of teeth the-rotations of the shaft'27 maybe at the desired increased speed for the purpose hereinafter described.

On the shaft27 is fixed a disc 28 which has pivoted-upon it arms 29 so that as the shaft 27 revolves so will the disc 28 be caused to rotate and carry with it the radiating arms 29. Thesearms are by the rotary motions of the disc 28 brought into sliding contact with a brake spring 30, thus the speed of the disc 28 is regulated by the pressure that the spring 30 exercises over the arms 29 and this pressure I can regulate by the adjusting screw 31 so that according to the speed at which I wish the disc 28, and consequent-1y all the gearing carried by the shaft 27 upon which it is mounted to travel I can regulatesame to'control the movements of the wheel 14 by the retarding actions of the devices described. By this arrangement of the retarding governor I can have same adjusted so that the'armature 10 is made to act at each second of time and by thus having the armature 10 moving at this regular speed so will also the'wheel '16 and therefore the shaft 13 be actuated and'caused to revolve at a regular and controlledspeed. To keep the speed of the wheel 14 and the train of wheels actuated by same conthe mechanism irespective of the strength of the electric current or electromagnet 11,

I arrange the wheel 16 to have one toothless in number than is required for rotating the shaft 13 one full revolution within a given: period. For example by the ratchet wheel 16 having fifteen teeth, in fifteen seconds it will have rotated the wheel 14 through a full revolution and as I'desire said wheel 14 to revolve through one revolution in sixteen seconds and not'in fifteen seconds it follows that I have one second of time wastedin keeping the winding of the spring within the box 15 up to the maximum since I regulate the governor brake 30 to control the movements of the gearing so that at each secondof time the armature 10 is caused to actuate thewheel 16 through one tooth.

operations of 7 In order to explain more clearly the result 7 i of this arrangement of teeth I may say that I have found that the series-of gearing wheelshaving teeth of the following numbers produces the effect I desire, that is to say, thewheel 14-has sixty four'teeth the pinion 18 has eight teethso that when the a wheel 14 moves the space of four teeth it will move the shaft 19 upon which the switch Jim,

20 is mounted, through one half a revolution and the wheel 22 fixed upon the shaft 19 has forty eight teeth while'the pinion 23 has" eight teeth. I V V The wheel 25 fixed upon the shaft 24 has fifty teeth while the pinion 26 fixed upon the shaft 27 has ten teeth thus through the gearing described for each tooth of the wheel 16 the wheel 14 will move four teeth, the pinion 18 willtravel through four teeth which is half a-revolution, thus the wheel 22 will travel through twentyfour teeth while the pinion 23 will revolve through three revolutions and therefore the wheel 25 will transmit motion to the pinion 26 so as to carry same through fifteen revolutions and by regulating the disc 28 to revolve fifteen revolutions per second I effect the governing of the armature 10 as desired, But whereas the wheel 16 has only fifteen teeth the ratio between fifteen teeth and sixty four teeth of the wheel 14 slightly increases the number of revolutions of the shaft 13 as compared with the revolutions of the wheel 14' thus at each revolution of the wheel-16 by only having fifteenteeth instead of sixteen teeth which would be oneiquarter the number of teeth of the wheel 14 I gain the slight advantage over the spring. within the box 15 so as to keep same wound toits maximum and therefore I secure the controlling features of my mechanism by having a spring. 12 (which operates the armature 10) suificiently strong to wind up the wheels and carry out the actions of the apparatus against the retarding governor at the speed stated, so that when the spring within the box 15 is fully wound, thepawi 17 will fall to move the wheel 16 one step in each revolution consequently although the wheel 16 has only fifteen teeth it requires 16 seconds to effect a complete revolution and this delay is to enable the spring 12 to keep the spring with the box 15 (at the maximum power against the retardations of the governor wheel 28 as same is regulated by the friction surface 30).

When I make use of my apparatus constructed and arranged as above described in connection with a road or other vehicle in order to leave a record on the travelling strip of paper 2 as to. the distance travelled by the vehicle or the number of revolutions of the vehicles wheels, I then arrange switch actuating mechanism for controlling the current to the electromagnet in order to enable this latter to operate as is hereinafter explained.

The apparatus which I employ consists of a lever 41 pivoted at 41 and normally kept, by the spring 42, against the lower surface of the casing 43 as is shown by Fig. 6. On this lever 41 is mounted a pawl 44 which operates a ratchet wheel 45 mounted upon a shaft or stud 46, and this ratchet wheel is held in position by a retaining pawl or ratchet 47. i

Mounted loosely upon the same stud 46 is a cam 48 which has a slot 48 formed in it for the reception of a laterally extending peg or pin 45 which is fixed to the ratchet wheel 45. Engaging with the cam 48 is a runner 49 which is mounted upon a spring 49 that has its other extremityv fixed to a bracket 49 fixed to the casing 45, thus the spring 49 forces the runner 49 against the peripheral surface of the cam 48.

The lever 41 is caused to rise by a projection 50 fixed upon the hub 50 of the road wheel or said projection 50 may be fixed upon another rotary or reciprocatory body provided such is timed to act upon the lever 41 as is herein described. However, it is shown upon the hub 50 of the wheel by Fig. 6 in order that at each revolution of said hub and therefore its wheehthe lever 41 is raised the pawl 44 is moved with it and causes the ratchet wheel 45 to move one tooth forward. In moving this one tooth forward said ratchet wheel will carry the pin 45 at the end of the slot 48 in the cam 48 and so cause said cam to move in the direction indicated by the arrow w, thus as said ratchet wheel rotates in step by step action when the cam surface comes in contact with the run nerv 49 it will commence to raise said runner somewhat as is shown by Fig. 8, so that at the next motion of the pawl 44 which effects the rotary motion of the ratchet wheel 45 through the space of one tooth, the cam 48 will have moved and raised the runner so that the spring 49 (which carries said runner) onthe cam 48 moving beyond said run ner will cause said runner to force said cam in forward direction and that before the pawl 44 has finished moving the ratchet wheel 45 through the full space of one tooth consequently the said cam 48 is prevented from resting at this part but is accelerated in speed so that by so doing it may carry the contact piece 48 (which extends to the periphery of said cam 48) into engagement with the terminal 48 and beyond same. That is to say, by the actions of the pawl 44 upon the wheel 45 when the cam 48 is in ti e position shown by Fig. 8 causes said cam 48 at the next movement to move beyond the runner 49 so that the recoil of the spring 49- will cause said runner to force down the cam in "order to suddenly move the contact piece 48 from its position shown in Fig. 8 to its position shown in Fig. 9 in order that during said motion said contact piece 48 may move from being clear of the terminal 48 to com )lete the circuit b contactin with said terminal, and then to move forward beyond same so as to be again clear as is shown by Fig. 9, thus efiecting the momentary completion of the circuit to the electromagnet 40 for the purpose hereinafter described.

The electromagnet 40 is mounted in a casing adjoining the apparatus containing my controlled devices hereinbefore described and as is shown by Figs. 10 and 11 of the drawings. Nhen the electromagnet 40 is energized the arn'iature 51 is attracted by same and causes the descent of the arn'mture 51 so as to carry the pawl which is pivoted upon its outer end to move loosely over one tooth of the ratchet wheel 53. The other extending arm from the armature 51 has an adj ustably mounted spring 53 secured to it so that said spring will raise the armature 51 when the current is cut oil from the electromagnet 40, and this recoil of the spring 53 has the effect of operating the ratchet wheel 53 through the space of one tooth.

Fixed upon the spindle 54 is a toothed wheel 54 which gears with a pinion 55 mounted upon a shaft 55 On the shaft 55* is fixed an eccentric 5.6 which revolves within the slot in the lever 57 and this lever is pivoted at 57 a so that as said lever 57 is oscil lated by the eccentric 56 it will cause the hinged arm 58 to reciprocate. On the end of this arm 58 I mount a marker 59 which may be a pen, pencil or any well known device as will be understood. This marker 59 while reciprocating or being stationary leaves its record upon the face of the continuously-travelling strip of paper 2 so that the record shown on the face or the said strip of paper is brought about as is illustrated by Figs. 2 and 11 of the drawings.

' record on the slip of paper 2 the reciprocationsoi" the lever 57 may be transmitted to the. pawl which actuates the revolution counter and said revolution counter maybe 1 f L' or any ell known ioriiiation.

Bythe arrangement ofthe devices dethe combination or an actuating electroscribed I am enabled to i'ecordthe number or m les travelled according to the revolution counter and supplement said number of miles travelled by the record of the marker 59 upon the strip ofpaper 2 so that said strip oi paper willindicate the time or start ng of the veh cle, when said veliiclestops and how longs-rich vehicle is standing.

For the reason that it is desirable to have the recording surface of considerable length when used in conjunction with road vehicles in order that actions extending over long periods of time (say four or more Weeks) mayhe' ecorded thereon, strips of paperare employed as is hereinbefore described.

' However. when I use in recordin a aratus for recording the attendance such as that of a watchman on duty n buildings, then I may have-a revolving disc which will carry a recording card or paper suitably marked to receive such record. This record .may be produced by the completing of an electric circuitsuch as by a push button or other switch mounted in any part of the works being connected to the recording mechanism say in the oiiice. In this latter case my operating mechanism is made to' rotate the disc carrying the. recording sur face instead of rotatin the rollers which 7 I 33 g i carry the-strip or paper.

No claim is herein madeto the mechanism illustrated in Figures 6 to 11 inclusive as this forms the subject of a-divisional appli cation,- Serial No. 14%,936, filed March 12,

Such being. the nature and object of my said invention, what I claim is V 1.1a time controlled driving mechanism, the combination of an electro-magnet, two pawls connected tothe armature of said magnet, a driving spring, a winding shaft connected with the spring, a rotatable electric switch controlling the electro-magnet, gearing connecting said switch and spring,

- friction means for exerting a constant retarding action to the rotation of the switch,

and a ratchet on the spring Winding shaft.

adapted to be actuated by one of the pawls of the electro magnet.

2. In time controlled driving mechanism,

the coi'nbination of an actuating electroniagiiet, a driving spring, an electric switch controlling said magnet, gearing driven by the spring for moving theswitch, speed retarding 'ii ieanstor said gearing comprising a rotary disc, a plurality of arms pivot-ally inounted on said. disc and a fllCtIOII SUIlaCB with whichisaid arms contact as the disc rotates, aratchet on'tlie windingshaft, and

a pawl carried by the armature of the electi'o-magnetfand actuating said ratchet to rewindthe springb 3; In time controlled driving mechanism,

a rotary disc, a plurality of arms-pivotally inountedoii said disc and a vfrictionsurface with which said arms contact as the disc rotates, said surface being adjustable relative to the axis-of the disc to vary the retarding action, a ratchet on the winding shaft, and

a pawl carried by the ariiiature'of the elec-' 'tro-inagnet and actuating said ratchet to re wind the spring. r r

4. lntime controlled driving mechanism, the combination with an intermittently operating actuator, of a mainspring,'a winding shaft connected to the spring, means operated by the actuator for rotating the shaft to wind the spring, means actuated by the spring and controlling operation of the actuator, and means for timing the operations of the actuator including a rotary disc driven by the spring and friction retarding means contantly engaging said disc. 5. In time controlled driving mechanism, the combination with anintermittently operating actuator, of a main spring, means actuated by the spring and'controlling operation ofthe actuator, inean'sior timing the operation of the actuator including a rotary disc driven by the spring and an adjustable friction retarding means constantly engaging said disc, and ineansoperated by the actuator for fully rewin ding the spring at each operation of said actuator.

' 6, In time controlled driving mechanism, the combinationwith an electro-magnet actutor,-a main" spring, a Winding shaft connected with the: spring, gearing driven by i the spring and controlling energizationof the electro-niagnet actuator. means for exerting a constant retarding action on said gearing, a ratchet on the spring winding shaft. and a pawl for actuating saidratchet carried by the armature of the electro-niagiiet actuator, whereby the spring will be fully rewound at each operation of said actuator.

" vWILLIAM COOPER SUTHERLAND. 

